Rogue Trader Jailed For Pretending to be an NICEIC Member

in today's news jail for the mercedes driving  rogue trader who lied about being an approved   electrician while living a life of luxury the  electrical contractor paralyzed after a fall warns   the trade to take health and safety seriously and  in one of our biggest competitions ever we have   over 100 prizes to give away welcome to electrical  news weekly in association with schneider electric   whether you're listening in the van on-site  or down at the wholesale counter i'm joe

robinson and i've been through the best of the  electrical industry news to save you the trouble   and as always if you think you spotted the two  words i've been challenged to slip into today's   show comment them below for the chance to win a  prize a portsmouth road trader who claimed to be  

an approved electrician has been locked up for  nine months portsmouth crown court judge david   melville sentenced 35 year old builder sam hart of  langley road portsmouth to the stretch in prison   after he claimed to be a member of the nic eic  while delivering what was described as appalling   workmanship he left his customers thousands of  pounds out of pocket and has been ordered to pay   back nearly 45 000 pounds the court heard that  hart had left a trail of devastation after he  

started trading as mac and heart developments  limited work on a loft extension and a rear   extension failed to comply with building  regulations leaving homeowner deborah parrish   with a bill of 11 000 pounds to fix the work hart  then formed another company harkins construction   limited and agreed to work on a full refurbishment  of a property in fairum in hampshire but the work   was never done and he diverted the deposit to  help with the liquidation of his previous company  

meanwhile hart is said to have had a luxury  lifestyle regularly hiring mercedes and bmw cars   to drive around portsmouth judge melville  described it as a most appalling series   of events harp pleaded guilty to six offenses  contrary to the consumer protection from unfair   trading regulations of 2008 contravening  requirements of professional diligence   failing to provide cancellation notices  and the unauthorized use of nic eic and gas   safe logos he was also disqualified from being 

a company director for five years we'd like to   remind householders that all work needs to be  conducted by a qualified professional and be   compliant with all the latest changes to the 18th  edition of the wiring regulations now to help you  

keep up with those changes schneider electric have  produced a really useful ebook this details the   updates to the 18th edition as well as the latest  products to help installers comply the amendments   include changes to special location installations  including solar and electric vehicle systems   prosumer low voltage electrical installations and  the need for systems that can both produce and   store energy installation requirements for fire 

risk buildings including escape routes and cabling   and removal of the crl calculation and  the increased need for surge protection   nico van der merve vice president of home  and distribution uk at schneider electric   sees the changes as a great opportunity for  the electrical industry and he believes that   the company's lineup of products will support  the trade in complying with the latest regs  

in other news new prime minister liz  truss has been warned that she has to act   now to avoid a crisis in the electrical industry  the electrical contractors association is urging   trust to urgently focus on skills electrification  and net zero they believe the industry is key to   upgrading britain's energy infrastructure and that  it needs urgent government support to survive the   energy bills crisis the eca's head of public  affairs andrew eldred said that many electrical  

contractors were small to medium-sized businesses  with an average profit margin of just 2.5 percent   he warned that these firms will struggle with  crippling inflation in the trade of 23 he said   trust must act now to avert the biggest crisis in  the sector since the collapse of carillion in 2018   whatever help liz truss gives the industry and  the eca have already taken the initiative with   electrical safety this month they've got behind  the safer september campaign which is a push to  

raise awareness of the importance of safe  isolation and the steps that electricians   should take to ensure they're working safely at  all times backing the campaign are the eca and   select and brands like test instrument solutions  we're backing it too in the usual e-fix style with  

a giveaway we've got 100 mini safe isolation kits  to give away to anyone who completes our special   safe isolation cpd during the month of september  it's a video based cpd which could save your life   so what are you waiting for check it out after  this episode i've put the link in the show notes   if you're way ahead of the curve and have already  got a cpd certificate from our video you can win  

one of 10 voltage and continuity testers from test  instrument solutions these are really cool bits of   kit because they have a built-in proving unit  simply post your cpd certificate on instagram   and tag us in again for all the details click  on the link in the show notes still on health   and safety an electrical contractor from  norfolk who had a life-changing work accident   has launched a campaign for better health and  safety in the workplace while wiring a building in  

2018 sean garrett fell from a stepladder through  an open flooring hole and three metres onto the   floor below he suffered four fractured ribs a  fracture to the front of the skull broken nerves   to the nose a broken backbone in three places and  a broken spinal cord which left him paralyzed from   the waist down he has no feeling from the waist  down or sense of body temperature no thirst and   he never feels hungry he has extreme lower back  pain and has to take over 150 tablets a day four  

years on he now feels ready to raise awareness  of the importance of health and safety garrett   says he gets very frustrated over electricians who  lack ppe or haven't thought of their safety while   completing their daily works he says that he will  be happy if he can get his message across and stop   some people from getting into accidents he plans  to raise money for the electrical injuries charity   and the east anglian air ambulance we applaud 

the campaign and if you want to help i've put   the just giving links in the show notes now on to  an emergency lighting conundrum it's a conundrum  

wrapped in an enigma and surrounded by a riddle with  an emergency exit sign does the arrow point up   or down we put the question to the wisdom of  crowds in the form of our weekly eFIXX survey   we asked you which way it should go and a whopping  11 000 of you voted but i'm sad to report that   most of you 7 out of 10 of you are wrong so does  the arrow go up or down to hear the answer and   the surprising thinking behind it check out our  special video on the issue and finally on to the  

fake news that had us all here at lineside studios  crying into our galaxy cookie crumble mcflurries   a report broke last week that mcdonald's had  decided to serve all day breakfast from next month   if you get delayed at the wholesaler or stuck on  a job then you will know the pain of missing the   10 30 a.m cutoff time for this tasty treat so  the rumor that the company would start selling   breakfast all day from 6th of october has us  rushing to mark our mastab's curry house calendar  

we cheered we hugged some of us kissed but then  mackie d's tweeted sorry guys file this one   under fake news it seems that whoever started the  rumour had their pantaloons on fire we unhugged we   unkissed we shed some tears but that's enough  bad news let's have some good by looking ahead  

to what's coming up from eFIXX this week we'll  be looking at the mains link from rf solutions   an amazingly easy to install weatherproof strip  light from jcc and as if one competition wasn't   enough we're also launching a new cpd from envirovent about changes to the building regs and the   impact of that on extraction and ventilation and  if you complete that cpd you stand the chance   of winning a 50 pound amazon voucher that you  could spend on anything from books to shampoo  

watch out for the hashtag training tuesday for  more details if you think you know the words   i've smuggled into today's show pop your guess  into the comments and we'll dig out a goodie bag   prize to the first to get the right answers last  week's words were rap scallion and winkle pickers   and loads of people guessed correctly possibly  because last week's words were rapscallion   and winklepickers i mean sure i use rap scallion  on a daily basis as we all do but winkle pickers  

seriously i think our scriptwriters have a  vendetta against me or something anyway the first   person to get it right was glenn wu fit so well  done to you sir click the link in the show notes   to claim your prize thanks for listening to this  episode of electrical news weekly in association   with schneider electric make sure you subscribe to  receive the next update and until next time have   a great week stay safe out there and remember  there's no such thing as a talk calibrated on